Chapter 4: The thought.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Fourteen year old Avery says to Pops.
"Not like we have much of a choice. Joan lost her mother and I am her father. We have to take her in." Pops says gruffly.
"Doesn't she have other relatives?" Avery says.
"No. Besides what would she say if she heard that her old man left her to foster care. Do you think she will ever forgive us for that?" Pops says.
"No…." Avery says. "But what about me? You know why I can't be around other people."
"You're around me and so far I ain't dead yet." Pops says. "Joan will be another exception. As of now, she'll always be the exception."
Avery sighs.
" But what about my….other situation?" Avery says squeamishly.
" If you must, just keep it to yourself if you're worried about your sister finding out." Pops says.
" But won't that confuse her if we don't tell her what I am exactly?" Avery asks.
" Confusing her won't kill her." Pops says. " That's all you need to know."
" Confusing her won't kill her." Avery mumbles. Taking Pops' words seriously.
Avery snort awake and finds that the truck in the same place as where it was parked the night before. On a camping site lot.
The teen looks over to Joan and sees her tucked up in the fetal position. Making her seem more tiny than she really is.
Avery groans from the neck pain thanks to leaning up against the steering wheel. Not exactly the most comfortable position to sleep in. But everywhere else is not that much better given that the two no longer have a home.
The teen looks around the land surrounding them and sees that there is a public showers up ahead.
The teen climbs out of the truck. Leaving Joan to sleep, but taking the precautions to lock the truck up.
Luckily the showers are empty when Avery comes in. Then again. It is winter. The ten walks over and goes into one of the farthest private stalls. Locking up the door in case. Avery then strips of the clothes and instantly feels goosebumps from the before turning the shower spigot to its hottest temperature.
Avery sighs in relief as the hot rain hits the skin despite the freezing temperature in the surrounding area. Any cold feeling the teen had before was replaced with a relaxing warmth feels. Despite being on a campground in the middle of winter.
Showering helps with thinking for Avery. And thinking is what the teen needs right now given the situation. The one downside though is forcing to see what their body is now.
Animalistic behavior is not only thing Avery has to deal with, but also their body. Avery's body changes physically depending on the teen's mentality or emotions. Just like the animalistic behavior.
There are some days where Avery has a male body and other days when the body is female. Most of the time though it's a creepy mix. Avery can have girl's lower half and a boy' upper half, or the other way around. Basically, Avery has no control over their body. Which is why Avery has never been referred to as a male or a female. But rather a 'they.' Not because they don't want to be referred as either or. But can't.
Because of this, Avery has kept everything to as Agender as possible right down to the voice and choice of clothes.
Not even Joan knows how to refer Avery as despite living with the family for over two years now. Pops never brought it up when she first learned about Avery and Avery never said anything.
As much as annoying the situation is, the good thing is that their body has never changed too much to give away any suspicion. Mostly thanks to the choice of clothes and maintaining a specific weight and body type as best as possible. Not too big or small for either gender. Just an average lean but strong body. The oversized sweaters hide any possible female curves and a high neckline and big scarf can cover any Adam's apple.
The face luckily though never changes nor leans to any gender and the hair was easy enough to maintain. Thick and a light brown color that stops at almost the shoulders. Practical for winter.
Avery looks down at their body once more. Male top. Female bottom this time. However, that's not the most noticeable thing on the teen's strange body. The most notable thing was what is on the left side of teen's left calf. A square cut green gem.
According to Pops, it came from their mother. The gem is named Agatha after her though her real name was Agate. According to what Pops said, she preferred the name Agatha. He said that she told him it made her unique from her kind.
" Agatha." Avery mumbles their mother's name. Tracing the gem with their index finger. Sighing. Wishing there was something to help the teen and Joan.
Avery steps out of shower and puts back on their clothing before going back outside to where the truck is. Not even a minute out and already the teen's wet hair starts to freeze up.
The teen comes up to the truck. Only to find Joan is not there.
" Joan!? Joan!" Avery freaks out before hearing, " I'm right here." The teen turns around to find Joan standing behind them with her own wet brown hair freezing solid from the weather. Suggesting that she took a shower as well.
" What are you getting so freaked out about?" Joan asks.
Avery sighs in relief leaning up against the truck before scoffing. " This is crazy."
" What's crazy?" Joan says.
" All of it! I'm such a moron!" Avery says before kicking up the snow. " I don't have a clue about what we can do! We're both underaged. We have no home and no means to support ourselves. Social Services are going to eventually find us and this has all been for nothing!" Avery slaps hits the car door.
"Avery….." Joan says.
"You were right." Avery scoffs, "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have taken off with you. Now we're in this disaster of a situation." Avery says shaking their head.
"Avery!" Joan shouts to get the teen's attention. " Look. I get it. Reality is setting in with you. But we can't freak out about this. We are past that point."
"You're right." Avery says in a much calmer tone. " I'd just need some sort of plan for us. Something that won't be a disaster."
"We can still do this." Joan says. " I mean. Don't you have the bank card dad left you. Let's figure out how much money he left us and go from here."
Avery sighs and nods. It's not much of a plan, but it's a start.
" Let's go find a bank then." Avery says opening the car door. Joan nods and follows. Avery starts up the truck and pulls away from the campgrounds.
Luckily it wasn't long before they manage to find a bank in a town not too far from the camping grounds.
"Stay in the truck." Avery says to Joan as the teen gets out of the truck alone. " I won't be long."
Avery goes up to a bank telling machine and inserts the card. From memory, punches in the number code dad made sure they never forget under any circumstances before receiving a receipt tomsee what the statement is before considering withdrawing money from the account.
Avery looks at the numbers and pales out of shock in response before putting in the machine to withdraw a couple hundred dollars. The money spits out of the machine for the teen to take before Avery takes out the card and cash and heads back over to the truck.
" So how much do we have?" Joan asks Avery as they hop back into the truck with the money and bank card stuffed in the teen's pocket.
" I knew Pops left us some money, but I didn't think he would leave us three hundred thousand dollars worth." Avery says in dumbfound as they leans back against the driver's seat.
" Three hundred thousand dollars!" Joan shouts before saying much more quietly. " That's….. A lot."
" It sure is, but it doesn't make us invincible." Avery says now knowing of what can be done at this point. " We need to stretch the money for as long as possible. I most certainly need a job to provide some more income."
" Do you have any ideas?" Joan says.
" Well for now, it does mean we can start by getting some necessities and some much needed lunch. I'm hungry as a bear right now." Avery says.
Joan laughes over how ironic the statement is. Which causes the older sibling to frown.
" Afterward." Avery frowns at their laughing sibling. " We should start planning where to go to for long term. Preferably out of state."
" Why out of state?" Joan says.
" Just in case." Avery says. Thinking about the worst things that can happen.
" You really are worried about doing this. Aren't you?" Joan says.
" I haven't done something like this before and no one should. I know how to hunt and survive in the woods, but I don't know how to survive in this world. Plus you're my responsibility. Of course I'm worried about doing this." Avery says.
" Well if it's any consolation, I'm glad we ran while we did. I don't want to live with strangers in the foster care system. I rather be with you." Joan says.
" Really?" Avery says in surprised.
" You maybe weird and part animal, but I think you're pretty great. Besides who else will fight me if I beat someone at Citchen Calamity." Joan smiles.
" I honestly have a better time with puzzles than that awful game." Avery smirks.
" But you still play it with me." Joan points it out.
" True." Avery admits before both of them start laughing. Until Avery gets a bit high pitched on the laughing.
" Ugh!" Avery stops and blushes in embarrassment. "Oh great" The teen thinks while feeling the sensation of their body fluctuating from the previous mode. "My emotions are making me female."
" What was that about?" Joan says out of curiosity. She has never heard her sibling sound like that before.
" Nothing." Avery says trying to change the subject. " How about that meal? I'm really starving right now."
" Ok." Joan says but still feels skeptical about what happened. But by the looks of it, Avery doesn't want to talk about it. For now she will just not have to bring it up. Even if the girl's curiousity is overwhelming her.
Chapter four is up and it shows the reason behind Avery being nonbinary other than I want to have the readers imagine the character for themselves. At least this provide a reason for the other characters in the story. I won't bring it up so much in future chapters though that it overshadows the story. I just want it to only be like a trait of the character. Kinda like the gems in a way that they change forms as well and are technically Agender too. In fact, Avery's powers are going to brought more than the body shifting. I hope I can still keep this at K+ giving some content that is borderlining to T. That is the goal as well.
I will try to get the next chapter up by the end of this week. Depends. I have to look at my work and school schedule. Anyway. Happy Reading!